Post-March 11 challenges dog Japan's pro-broadcast giants

By Paul Dempsey

Published Monday, April 11, 2011

Sony and Panasonic provided the latest details on media, parts and materials shortages at NAB.

Leading professional broadcast equipment suppliers Sony and Panasonic provided supply updates for their products following last month's earthquake in Japan, as the NABshow production technology event opened in Las Vegas today (April 11).

A particular concern has been supplies of HDCamSR tape and SxS storage cards, both of which are manufactured at a Sony factory in Sendai, one of the city's hardest hit by last month's disaster.

“At the latest estimate, we expect production to resume in early Summer,” said Alec Shapiro, senior vice president of Sony Electronics Professional Solutions of America. “Meanwhile, we are working closely with customers to provide necessary assistance in meeting their needs.”

Shapiro also told a NAB press conference that Sony is to begin introducing a file-based storage option for the HD-CamSR format, with cartridges of initially up to 1TB capacity.

Panasonic said that its own broadcast equipment manufacturing sites were not affected but added that, like many Japanese companies, it is having some difficulty in sourcing raw materials and parts supplied by companies based in north east Japan. However, it did not cite any specific product shortages at this time.

Also at NAB, Sony unveiled the F65, its next-generation CineAlta camera aimed at providing“true 4K resolution and beyond” for HDTV production at the point of image capture.

It has the company's new 8K image sensor, which has approximately 20 megapixels, and 16-bit RAW output The sensor runs at a maximum of 120 frames per second.

Sony says its imager is the first to provide a dedicated green photosite for each pixel in a 4K output image. This represents twice the amount of green resolution compared with traditional 4K Bayer pattern sensors. It provides “a significant improvement in image resolution that is ideal for visual effects processing,” the company said.

For its part, Panasonic confirmed that it will be the provider of HD cameras for the London 2012 Olympics. The company has been the main broadcast supplier to the Olympics since Barcelona 1992.